Chapter 14 : The Sacking of Thosdagokshe

Hadrian and Albus stood near the forward command as the firing order was given.

They stood in awe as the Dwarves' and the Drow siege weapons prepared to fire upon the massive city gates. It was, to say the least, overwhelming.

Hadrian and Albus stood at position A3 according to Jra'kal, one of the officers of the Lightning Company. The gathered men watched with bated breath as the rather horrifying Dwarven weapon charged itself, before unleashing a beam of roaring red at the gate.

This was no laser because to call it such would be like comparing a laser to dragon fire. True enough, but not in any way that mattered. Albus and Hadrian watched as the beam slammed into the gate only to suddenly refract. The massive beam moving to fast to stop as it cut a swath into the ground in front of the gates, the wound in the ground glowing an angry red as it slowly cooled.

"Wards," Rath'gar smiled. Goblins were, as a race, famous for their wards, famous for their ability to break wards. It was perhaps a unique opportunity to study the wards of a race of intellectual cannibals, one that the two wizards were sure Rath'gar would be taking. "From the looks of it a reflection ward. I wonder if it will stop projectiles, because everything the goblins have on the subject, and that is one combination that we lack. Wards of reflection can be energy-based or physical, but having both on the same level of warding is impossible."

"What do you mean? I have seen many places that have both wards. You have to break each one separately." Hadrian said curious as to what the goblin prince was inferring.

"It seems like that but the truth is one of the wards is a hairsbreadth below the other," Gesturing Rathgar dropped a dagger onto the table in front of the two wizards. "Watch the wards," Rath'gar's finger scratched a line of magic, the rune being written on the air, as the ward of energy repelling was carved into existence around the dagger.

Another few minutes, Rath'gar cast a weak ward of projectile repelling, the two wards were fine until they touched, and then they both came crashing down, the only reason the backlash wasn't more pronounced was because of the sheer miniscule nature of the two wards. They were like upside-down cereal bowls.

"That is peculiar," Hadrian murmured, his magic sight causing his eyes to glow in the telltale way they did when they someone used mage sight to view magic.

"How do you suspect they will manage to tear down the wards?" Albus asked Rath'gar curiously.

"I really have no idea, I suspect that they will attempt to batter them which could take a Hrim," Rath'gar said seriously.

"Months?!" Hadian and Albus blurted out, their collective thoughts slipping from each of their mouths. A Hrim, they had learned, was 60 or so cycles, about 2 months using Midgardian vernacular.

"Quite," Rath'gar said, lips curling as the bombardment of the wards began.

"Albus..." Hadrian's voice had a hint of tension, their earlier conversation on the need for expediency immediately coming to bear.

Albus more than understood his charge's worries. "I think we need to help them take down the wards to avoid wasting more time than we already have, do you have any ideas, Hadrian? Rath'gar?"

Both his young prodigy and the goblin prince paused in thought. "What about a ward piercer?" Hadrian murmured.

Rath'gar shook his head. "Too weak, even without seeing those wards I can tell they would shrug off any ward piercer that didn't involve a blood sacrifice." Albus frowned, he was never one to condone human/sentient-being sacrifice to do magic.

"Rath'gar is it possible to get a read on the wards without approaching them?"

"It will be very difficult, such detection magic has its limits."

"What about a wild magic spell?" Hadrian asked.

Albus' head snapped up at the question. "Hadrian-," Hadrian had little desire to let the older, more cautious, man disrupt his train of thought, however.

"Now hold on Albus, think about it, why try and to break through when we can just fundamentally alter. Wards are notoriously precise magic, throwing manifested chaos at it will most certainly disturb it. An anti-magic spell will have little effect." Throughout his speech, Hadrian's face grew progressively brighter with excitement.

Albus' voice was firm. "Hadrian! You would be better off summoning fiendfyre than you would be wild magic. It is matched with a one way trip through the veil on Midgard for a reason. Your astounding knowledge of the Anathema aside, there are reasons certain things are not to be done. There are far worse things than death."

"What other ideas do you have then, Albus?" Hadrian's voice betrayed his frustration at the man shooting down his idea.

"Why a specialty of mine of course, Alchemy," Albus said with a mocking tone. Hadrian's eyes locked eyes with Albus, a grin lighting up his face at the older man's response. Hadrian had always wanted to see what an Alchemy master like Albus could do if he was so inclined.

Albus stood in front of a siege machine and stared at his handiwork critically, the runes he had carved on each of the massive boulders looked like simple scratches, though in truth they were much more. He had done the Trio by hand rather than with magic for a purpose he was about to test. The Gemini charm and other such permanent conjuration magics all relied on the lack of magic on the object copied to work. So, if you had a stone carved with uncharged runes, you could copy it, but if the runes were charged it became impossible.

The elderly man had spent an entire cycle working amongst the ear-shattering bangs of the siege weapons' various projectiles exploding against the wards. A not insignificant time investment, seeing as it was now the fourth cycle since the siege had begun.

He had mapped out the runic configuration to do what he wanted. It took time, but with the addition of another two runemasters, the work went far faster than Albus expected. Soon enough they had completed the prototype.

It was perhaps the scariest thing that he had ever created. The boulder was covered in runes that would turn the entire boulder from physical matter to energy on contact with a ward, and then back into physical matter in a timed alchemical reaction. The energy generated would actually be charged by the contact with the wards and would activate the velocity boost and turn what would be already a fast-moving projectile into a bullet the size of a truck.

'Of course,' Albus thought bemused, 'it will also explode on contact.' That was, unsurprisingly, Rath'gar's contribution.

Looking at the masterpiece weapon they had created, Hadrian and him shared a pensive look as they tried to come up with the best way to do this. Meanwhile, the soldiers watched them with a bit too much interest, having learned to pay attention to whatever Hadrian, or Albus, got up to.

"What about putting a duplicate scheme on the loading chamber?" Albus thought for a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement. "I was thinking the same thing."

Albus and Hadrian wasted no more time and got to work.

Inscribed with their artifacts, the curling runes they painstakingly etched into the rock would transform the bolder into a firing mechanism by using the generated energy from hurling the bolder towards the walls as well as the explosion of the last boulder.

'Should we tell the other commanders?' Asked Hadrian curiously through their bond.

'What if they say no?' Rath'gar's thoughts interjected, giving the two men pause.

'That would be unfortunate, and they have already proven incapable of not being slighted by our swift victories,' Albus mused.

'What if we only tell them after we launch the first one?' Hadrian said. A wicked grin forming as he projected his thoughts.

'They receive the runner at the same time the first bomb goes off,' Albus hummed in agreement, his own eyes twinkling with an old man's mischief.

Turning to one of the soldiers surrounding them, Albus spoke again, this time it was out loud. "Captain Jgritt, I need you to do me a favor. Hadrian, Rath'gar and I have prepared a special projectile if you will, and we would like to inform the forward command of it, I suspect the effect will be memorable, please run and tell them to ready themselves for us." Jgritt clapped her hand onto her breastplate decorated with medals of valor, and with a small bow, took off running to tell the central command of Albus' message.

"Perhaps, before we fire, since we have some time, we should erect some wards of our own to protect our new weapon?" Albus said quietly. The other two nodded their heads. Rath'gar pulling out a white perfect cube from one of his enchanted pouches: a masterwork wardstone.

With a shared feral grin, the three of them began the rather lengthy process of erecting defensive wards around their location.

The Spiderling stood in the rear command tent as the siege was taking place, the Illithid's own anti-siege weapons capable of fearsome damage. The horrid monsters used a different sort of projectile: living monstrosities that were fired into the camp to wreak havoc on the frontlines.

It was the fourth cycle of the siege and things were progressing well. She suspected that the siege could be done within forty cycles if things continued apace. Twirling a ceremonial dagger between her nimble fingers, she mused to herself, 'not that things ever go according to plan in war. I wond—" *Kathooom*

The Queen started upwards from her relaxed position in her throne-like chair, the dagger clattering to the floor as the echoing thunder of an explosion rang in her ears.

She was already half out of her chair when one of her more trusted generals burst through the flaps of the tent. "My Queen, y-you must see what is h-happening." An already present feeling of alarm magnified at her general's reaction.

Standing quickly, the queen ran after him, freezing when she saw the burning hole in the massive wall. Her eyes widened as she saw projectiles flickering as they passed through the wards, slamming into the wall, again and again, exploding with bursts of brilliant light. The resulting shockwaves sent warm wind brushing past her cheeks as the smell of smoke filled the air.

The Spiderling took it all in with a rare case of unguarded shock. 'What was happening?' The thought echoed numbly through her mind.

Whirling to face the Dwarven King, Thrain, she made to ask him the meaning of all this. Only to freeze in surprise as she took in his current state. He was standing stock-still, his bearded jaw hanging open, eyes darting across the battlefield and his pulse quickened.

It wasn't the dwarves then. Who else could be resp—the crikken wizards, why had they not shared their plan with her! Scrambling to get a handle of the situation, the Queen turned back to her general.

"Send a large force to reinforce sector A3 immediately, tell the other men to continue firin-" the queen was interrupted as another projectile slammed into the massive city wall to the city proper. Exploding, the sonic-boom cut off the rest of what she was saying, sending what only someone like the Spiderling knew to be hundreds of illithids flying through the air, dead before they even hit the ground.

"Tell the siege engines to continue firing. There is no reason to stop, soon enough there will be nothing for those projectile wards to defend. It will prevent them from simply trying to destroy the projectile before it reaches the city. We can begin moving to take the city far sooner than expected due to this fortuitous occasion. Neith smiles upon us from the Great Beyond."

Her orders given, she turned, mithril armor glinting in the flickering firelight as she walked urgently into the tent, she had preparations to make.

Hadrian and Albus watched their siege weapon make short work of the wall, massive sections of it exploding outwards, the shrapnel alone killing hundreds of the beasts. The lightning company was standing at attention in front of their war-machine, eyes wide watching the destruction.

Hadrian's own eyes widened as he saw a massive boulder flying towards him and the siege weapon. With a fury, he brandished his wand, and in one smooth flourish, he sent the massive bolder back to the sender. He was vaguely reminded of a time he saw a muggle tennis match, only in this case it was an eight-ton bolder being volleyed back and not a fist-sized tennis ball. Even from this distance, Hadrian could see the explosion as the rock impacted the barrier the wards provided.

He was distracted from admiring his shot by a sudden blast of a horn. It was not the deep bass of a dwarven horn or one of the higher-pitched elven instruments; one of their enemies, then.

The gates of the monstrous city let out a groan, opening only a fraction to their eyes. Yet, with the distance between them and the wall, it could have been a gap of a dozen meters.

Regardless, Illithid poured out like ants from a distributed hive, it was a horrifying sight to see so many enemy soldiers pouring from the gates; their naturally nightmarish visages didn't help matters either.

Yet, as he watched, initially frustrated, his eyebrows rose as he realized that there was something he could do.

Hadrian, seeing his chance, wasted no time. In muggle warfare moving a siege weapon was a rather lengthy process, which is why it was only used to strike at stationary targets. Luckily, he was no muggle.

Marshaling his magic, Hadrian reached out to the siege weapon, wrapping it in arcane power. With a flex of power, he used his magic to change the angle of the great machine. Taking careful aim, Hadrian lined up the machine with the target he had in mind.

A moment passed, and then another, finally, once he sensed it was the perfect time, he allowed the machine to fire, this time directly at the gate itself.

It was a bit of an awkward shot, but it was without a doubt a wise one. From the gate, a line of Illithids, riding a series of fel-like tentacled horses, continued to spill from the gate.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't make it far as the projectile Hadrian launched slammed into them, crushing bodies as it rolled forward, crashing with a mighty thrum into the open gate.

The gates were sundered.

It had been a miscalculation for them to open the gates in the first place, one likely born of the gate was at least twelve meters thick, and covered in runes that gave any sane being that looked at them a headache. It was a gate that was near impenetrable. The thing is, these wards are only active when the gate is shut, when opened they lower to allow their own troops exit and entree, and at that moment where Illithids marched from the gates, there was a gap in their armor. One Hadrian took advantage with a ruthlessness that would make a goblin proud.

It seemed their enemies' mistake was their success.

There was a brief moment of stunned silence. It didn't last.

From somewhere in the dim, smoke-filled battlefield, a horn sounded, it was high-pitched and echoing: a Drow war-horn. The call was followed by another, then another. Seemingly in answer, a deep throaty horn sounded, one that could only be crafted by the rugged hands of the dwarves. Soon the entire battlefield resonated with the sound of their calls.

With one masterstroke it was no longer a battle of attrition, but a race to the gate. It was a race Hadrian had no intention of letting him or his men lose.

Canceling the spell that kept the siege weapon firing, Hadrian only had to glance at Albus and Rathgar for them to understand. Albus flicked his wand, the weapon they had created bursting into flames amidst the shouts by their soldiers. It would not do to leave something so powerful lying around. They trusted neither the dwarves nor the drow to not use this to disrupt their tenuous peace.

With that business done, Hadrian turned to his mentor. "Albus, is there a way we can carry our troops to the gate, but also protect them from arrows?"

Albus gave the question serious thought, stroking his now auburn speckled grey beard. "Perhaps having our infantry lock shields to create a shield wall would be beneficial. We can at least try and avoid heavy losses as we approach the wall." Albus turned his serious eyes across the expanse of ground between them and the gates. "Even with the gate sundered, I still think the best method will be for us to use our original plan: use our ladders and try to take the top of the wall. The vast majority of their ground force will be positioned to defend the gap, and history has repeatedly shown us that defending a pass is the surest way for the larger attacking force to fail."

Albus paused, thinking about the logistics of such a move. "A troop transport for four to five is one thing, but with nearly 550 people it would be far more energy and work than would be beneficial, there are times, Hadrian, where the best solution is, in fact, the one without magic."

Hadrian accepted his mentor's wisdom and continued seriously. "I suppose we will march to the walls then." Turning to the men, he raised his voice and thrust his divine weapon forwards. "Let's go and show the mindflayers that we are the monsters of their nightmares!"

With a mighty cheer from the soldiers, it didn't take long for Albus, Hadrian, Rath'gar, and a recently returned, Taurelilómëa to gather the Lightning Company, shrink the ladders, and move out, towards the burning walls.

The Lighting Company's approach was far easier than that of the other attacking drow and dwarves. They had two sorcerers, and as any of the soldiers would likely tell you, Magic was might.

Albus was hyper-focused on the action in front of him. Watching Hadrian casually batting aside a slew of arrows, Albus was satisfied that no aerial attacks would reach them. Instead, his sharp eyes watched for any sign of attack from the ground.

Albus felt the wards pass over them, surprised to find they were surprisingly sparse. The two main ones were only the two that they had detected: Anti-projectile and Anti-spell wards. Thankfully, neither of the sorcerers or the force they were leading forward were projectile or spell to be stopped by the still strong wards.

As they passed the wards it felt like walking through a field of static energy; the pair of wizards could feel the screen of arcane energy scan then ignore them. It was without a doubt one of the most peculiar experiences they had experienced, they were used to the feeling of Hogwarts' wards, and the power they had. Albus was also used to the benevolence; this magic was not benevolent.

His eyes were drawn downward as he noticed with alarm that the ground was churning: illithid tadpoles.

Not pausing from his rather expedient march, Albus flicked his wand forward in an intricate pattern. The illithid tadpoles lying in wait popped like bubbles to a curious child's finger as he increased the relative gravity around them to fifty times what they were used to.

Soon enough, the wall loomed over them, its black spiked surface shimmering angrily. From behind the shield wall, Hadrian unshrank the ladders while he kept watch for any probing strikes. They only had three, far too few to allow them to actually push past whatever resistance they would meet when they would only be attacking in forces of three at a time.

There was another issue, the wall was massive, a far further climb than any of them wanted to do.

"How do you feel about walking up the side of the wall face instead of taking the ladder?" Hadrian asked his companions even as he deflected a stream of boiling water.

"Do it, Hadrian," Albus interrupted, one glance at the towering wall and he knew the ladders would fail before they even tried. Looking at the wall critically, Albus reached out to his connection with Hadrian, 'What if we cast an illusion so they couldn't see us climbing the wall, and only saw us climbing the ladder?'

'Let's do it,' Hadrian thought back..

'3.. 2.. 1.. CAST!' Both spells burst from their wands at the same time, Hadrian's spell altering reality so that "down" was the face of the wall. At the same time, an illusion sprung into being of the 600 person force trying (and failing) to climb the ladders to reach the greedily waiting force on top of the wall. It would hopefully distract from their attempted subterfuge.

Hadrian jumped and space twisted as he fell onto the wall. Only taking a moment to marvel at the wonders of magic, he began walking up the side of the wall. Gravity, for him, turned on its side. It was as impossible for him to "fall" down as it would be someone to fall into the sky. Seeing Hadrian's move, Albus followed, Rath'gar and Taurelilómëa bringing up the rear. Now used to the miracles created by the arcane pair, the army tentatively joined at Albus and Hadrian's behest.

The elves and dwarves took a hesitant step, then two. Slowly they broke into a brisk jog. Then, they charged.

The wall was long, but Albus felt the vigour of relative youth drive him forward. His once (admittedly quite magnificent) silver beard was now sprinkled with the auburn hair lost since his younger now looked like a man of forty years. A very fit man of forty; who had, since he had entered Svartalfheimr, been forced into more physical activity then he likely had done in entire decades of his life.

He had seen the changes, but it was only while running up the side of the wall that he truly appreciated what they meant.

He didn't need to push magic into his limbs, though he did so anyway. Feeling the static charge of his magic empowering him, he ran forward.

It took some time, but since they were not climbing, merely running, it was much faster and less strenuous than any of them expected. Before long they had reached the top, their 600 soldiers lying in wait, hidden by the massive spikes and gothic stylings of the wall. Hadrian had the strange mental image of bats clinging to the walls of a cave.

Yet, even as they stood suspended below them, the illithids continuously fired on the illusory forms that were "climbing the ladders".

Hadrian crouched like a bird of prey on a branch, before leaping forwards, jumping over the lip of the ramparts. Gravity made the rapid shift back to normal, causing him to fall in an impossible manner. Even with magic boosting his reflexes, he couldn't stop the small stumble when his feet landed on the cold dark floor of the wall's ramparts.

Luckily, the illithids were so surprised by his sudden appearance none of them had the composure to take advantage.

In less than half a second, Hadrian was sure-footed once more, Eldingr in his hands as he silently began picking off as many of the illithid as he could. Albus crouched as well, prepared to copy his eager young protegee's movement; a waved fist telling the soldiers lying in wait that they should charge as well.

Leaping forward, Albus Dumbledore nearly stumbled as gravity returned to its normal direction. But he had seen Hadrian's landing and knew to prepare himself. A good thing too as with Hadrian already in the midst of the monsters, he lacked the element of surprise. A fact that was reinforced when three arrows were sent his way

Casually batting the projectiles aside, Albus released his magic from his usually vise-like hold. It was not something he was used to doing, it was frowned upon in the wizarding world, such things highlighted the disparity between magic users. Such overwhelming power and potency made others who lacked the same uncomfortable and highlighted the sham that magical equality. Though it didn't change the value of the wizard, some were just more powerful than others.

There was no mistaking Dumbledore's power when he released it, it was only now that Albus was beginning to see what Hadrian was saying about such senseless restrictions. They were, as his young apprentice had repeatedly said, so very limiting.

His magic was like a spring, launching forward as the kinetic energy that had compressed it lifted. It burst from him in thick flowing streams, and for the first time in a long time, Albus felt everything. His magic stretched out nearly 50 feet in every direction, everything slowed down and then moved.

Idly, Albus wondered what image he presented. The magic was so thick around him it was visible as a cloying haze, but it remained intangible, like mist on a foggy night in the Scottish moors. His eyes burned with power, no longer twinkling, they shined. His beard flapped in a nonexistent wind as pure magic displaced the air around him. His enemies gawked in fear, his allies in awe.

'Show off,' Hadrian grumbled across their shared connection. Albus' lips twitching at the feelings projected towards him.

Carefully directing tendrils of magic with his will, Albus took control of the very stone that made up the walls. Using his decades of practice, the transfiguration master did what he did best, he used his environment to his advantage. He shaped the stone into snake-like vines to bind and constrict any illithids they could reach. Only these vines grew sharp thorn-like barbs when they wrapped around the many illithid archers that lined the parapets of the wall.

Hadrian meanwhile was not content to be forgotten. He had run forward, a torrent of lightning erupting from his wand as he fried an entire row of defenders before banishing their twitching bodies into the slowly organizing reinforcements.

Where Albus was a deadly rapier wielded with precision and grace, Hadrian's magic was a mighty lance containing all the power of a warhorse's deadly charge. In the end, it mattered little, both would kill you.

A quick scan of his magic told Albus that two-thirds of the Lightning company had joined them now, their elven archers firing unforgivingly on anything that moved.

Hadrian took a quick scan of the battlefield. The benefit of their location was that the ground forces would be hard-pressed to aid the wall defenders, the distance was too great, and they lacked transportation. The wall was no easy thing to scale, none of the beings in Svartalheimr had the ability to do what Albus and Hadrian had done, so their enemies were woefully unprepared to have an entire company of able and fresh soldiers in their ranks.

As he dispatched a particularly ugly illithid, Albus took the small amount of breathing room he had to look over the edge of the wall. Albus saw what must have easily been 15,000 drow and dwarven soldiers assaulting the destroyed gate.

Jabbing his wand forward and twisting harshly, Albus took control of the wall itself, sending a wave-like ripple through the left side of the ramparts. The scrambling host of illithid infantry were flung off of the wall, most certainly dead from the fall.

But he did not have time to confirm his thoughts as his magic screamed at him in warning. Albus felt the presence of what could only be an Ulitharid attempting to warp into the battleground the rampart become,

Knowing that this was not an enemy he could underestimate, Albus did not allow the ulitharid a second to get its bearings. Splaying his left hand forward, he clenched his fist tight and tugged with his magic.

The surrounding floor bloomed, curling open like a flower, the ulitharid landing in the middle of it only to have the petals of the stone flower curl inwards. The stone flower seemed to move backwards in time, its petals curling inwards as they crushed the ulitharid before it even had a second to process what was happening. It reminded Albus of a magical plant he had seen once in the depths of the Brazillian Amazon.

Only a few seconds passed before the large stone flower was a small bud that sank back into the earthware with which it had sprung. Leaving no hint of the ulitharid's grizzly fate.

The illithid on this section of the wall were thinner now. It was clear the Lightning company was winning the battle.

Albus' whipped his wand across his body, a ribbon cutter spooling out of its end slicing through seven illithid archers who had just stepped off of an elevator like structure.

Pausing as no one immediately tried to kill him, Albus peered around carefully before giving a satisfied nod, striding over to where Hadrian had just killed the last Illithid in the area.

"What should we do now?" One of the drow captains asked Hadrian, shouting over the din of distant battle.

"Form up!" Hadrian's voice reached everyone in their vicinity with ease, his magic aiding him the way Albus himself was familiar.

Albus and Hadrian stood at the front of their assembled soldiers, assessing their strategic position. They had lost 8 soldiers in the assault, far fewer than should have been possible, still, it required some arrangement.

There was some bickering among the company's captains around what to do next, but Hadrian's commanding voice cut through the clamour. "We will attack the defending Illithid force from their rear, routing them, and allowing us to take the gate," Hadrian stated. Albus nodded his agreement, feeling pride surge through him as his apprentice took command of the situation like he was born for it.

Thinking for a moment, Hadrian gazed out into the battlefield below, eager to make a difference. "What about transfiguring platforms into the wall, to allow the archers vantage?" Hadrian suggested quietly.

"I will take care of it." Albus said simply. Hadrian nodded before turning to the soldiers.

"Lightning Company!" Hadrian's voice again boomed forward powerfully. "Let us use our advantage and strike our enemy from behind! Archers follow your captains, they know where to position themselves. Fire at will. Infantry with me!"

Hadrian turned and ran onto the massive lift, which he noted had had it's rope cut by the illithid. With a gesture it was whole, and began lowering the company down.

Albus gestured about half way down the massive wall, a burst of invisible magic exploding from his wand as a large ledge erupting from the side of the wall. The elven archers had little difficulty using their natural agility to get onto it. Hadrian gave his newest companion a serious nod as Taurelilómëa joined them. She was more effective as an archer, plus, it would give those that remained behind a clear leader.

The process was repeated till all of the archers were placed along the wall. Hadrian and Albus neared the ground, as the first arrow flew by Albus' face, curving around him as his magic denied the headshot its prize.

"Forward!" Hadrian's yell was met by a roar as the 80 or so men that he had left with him, the rest either on the wall or having died roaring in response as Hadrian brandished Eldingr, a roar of lightning signaling their attack as lightning erupted from his wanded and off hands, a steady stream of lightning erupting from his hands as he led the charge.

Hadrian noted with passing amusement that, somehow, the loudest shout was still Rath'gar.

It was a hectic charge, Hadrian's magic and mind working overtime as his magic and mind struggled to process the sheer amount of information he was receiving. It was prioritized betweens threats against him, threats against Albus, and threats against those in his vicinity.

Hadrian found himself, deflecting many nearly fatal blows away from his soldiers. Regardless of his own lack of knowledge of their personal lives, he knew they were sentient and conscious individuals. With families and feelings, needless acceptance of their deaths when it was preventable was unacceptable.

The large force of illithids mostly wielded spears or swords with shields, they had been successfully holding off the attacking force. That was, until they were forced to turn half of their men to defend from behind. The shock crippled morale, and every Illithid who was cut down by Hadrian, these seemingly too weak to even try psionic attacks, pushed them one step closer to taking a foothold in the city.

Soon enough, between the archers shooting anything that looked Cephalopodic, and Hadrian, Albus, Rath'gar and their men slaughtered all of the defenders, they soon came face to face with the Dwarven and Drow Lieutenants who looked at them in irritation.

Ignoring them, Hadrian turned around and blinked. What to do next? Rath'gar, consumed by bloodfury, turned back towards the city and simply ran deeper into it, roaring all the way.

Hadrian blinked. Alrighty then, that decided that.

"Attack!"

It had been several days since they first began their assault on Thosdagokshe, and it was going well. They had managed to take the lower city. A majority of the illithids simply cornered into sections of the city. Illithids by themselves were rarely an issue, it was only when they had an Elderbrain with... aspirations appeared that they became an issue. So Hadrian did his part to kill as few of the "civilian" Brainstealers as he could.

The army and majority of the illithid force was walled into the inner city, a place where the ulitharid and the Elderbrain lived, it was also the location of the Temple of the many-tentacled-one. The enemy was entrenched though, and Hadrian and Albus took a several hour break in the shadows of the mighty wall. The Lightning company had just cut a huge time and personal cost out of the war, and neither side had been prepared for it it seems. As a result, the attack on the city proper was more a melee than anything.

Hadrian and Albus had had a meeting with the Queen and the generals of the two respective armies, the two races had grumbled, but they were unable to argue with the 'efficiency' his strategy had used. Hadrian and Albus had single-handedly ended the siege with both their siege machine and their attack.

"So what is the plan of attack? Surely not another battle of attrition?" Hadrian said with a hint of worry.

"No we will be sending a two-pronged attack, the main force will engage the army, pushing forward until we breach the City of Elders, but the minute we do, Illithid contingencies will be triggered, meaning that the protocol to remove the Elder Brain to a safe location will be enacted. This must not happen!" The Dwarf King's hand slammed onto the tabletop, his thick beard trembling as his jaw clenched in anger.

"The plan is to send an elite squad to engage the Elder Brain at the same time that the outer defenses are breached so that the Elder brain will be unable to flee, if you kill the Elder Brain, then the rest of the illithid foot soldiers will panic, it will allow us to finish this quickly." The Queen spoke up from her place at the head of the table.

'Cutting the head off the snake as it were,' thought Hadrian, staring intently at the map.

"Where is the Elder Brain?" Albus asked cautiously, tugging at the end of his beard.

"It is holed up in the Tengkorak." Said the Orzûm grimly.

"Forgive me my lack of Illithid cultural knowledge, what is that?" Albus said wryly.

"That is the most guarded and sacred place for the Illithid. The Temple of the Many Tentacled One, and its surrounding area." the Spiderling responded grimly. "It is the most heavily guarded and well-defended place in this entire city. It is also the place where the most powerful and favored Ulitharid reside. Ones far more powerful than the ones you have yet seen." The Queen's tone was grim. This was not going to be easy.

"Fuck." Hadrian murmured under his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with the Many-Tentacled-God

"Indeed. Fuck." Albus quietly agreed.

Hadrian and Albus were suddenly very glad they had not really had to do anything with the siege spells that they had readied, you never know when you might need those kinds of spells, especially when venturing into the temple of a very real, very angry tentacle God.

Hadrian waited for Albus, his blue robes glowed with spiraling runes. Taurelilómëa and Rath'gar had joined him a few minutes ago, so he had begun casting protective sigils over them.

Albus and he had been working on an alternative to having to scribe the protective runes on their companions every single time that they wanted to protect them from something, some sort of defensive shortcut. Though while Rath'gar wasn't against them tattooing the runes into his skin, both Hadrian and Albus were uncomfortable with such a measure, all it would take is one slice in the right location to sever the entire scheme. It was a rather large issue.

The two had instead worked very hard at designing anklets of their own that would be unobtrusive and rather subtle that would be able to contain all the runic scripts. Taurelilómëa was by far the more risky of the two companions, Otho now occupied with his own divine mandate of leading the Dwarves.

Hadrian didn't really have strong feelings about the Orzûm's departure from their group, not having had the extended meaningful interaction to truly get to know the private dwarf. That was not to say he didn't have feelings of friendship with his once companion. Him and Albus had thought it prudent to give him one of the anklets as well, his own magic sufficient enough to charge the runic sigils inscribed on their gift.

Soon enough, Albus walked forward, Mondstral glowing ethereally as he approached the group.

"Are you ready Hadrian?" Albus asked quietly, behind him the two dozen elite soldiers that would be accompanying him stood.

"We are ready," Hadrian said simply. Both he and Albus had taken the time to rest and meditate, knowing that this was unlikely to be as easy as past skirmishes.

This was like knowingly walking into the lair of Ilsensagron again, they would not make the mistakes they had made before.

Every member of the group wore a circlet made of silver, inscribed with ancient runes of power; a gift from the dwarves. It would give them a small degree of added protection from the psychic attacks they were likely to be mired with.

A horn sounded, rippling through the air like the roar of a mighty beast as the army roared back in seeming answer. A good distance away, the assault on the upper city began.

That was their cue. Turning, they walked down the streets and into the gutter that would take them under the inner city wall.

Albus moved with a grace and efficiency he had not had in years. His magic sang through his body, eager to be released.

The game here was speed and efficiency. The main attack would hopefully draw most of the footsoldiers and ulitharid away from their other positions.

Still, he suspected he should have been far less surprised when they came across the first group of illithid. The words of the Orzûm echoing in their head.

"One mind flayer sees ye, and they all see. One mind. One nasty, suspicious mind."

The group of 28 elite moved undetected, their movements silenced, cloaked in disillusionment magic. Seeing the illithid ahead, two of the drow assassins signaled that they would take point, and moved to assassinate them.

Neither Albus nor Hadrian even saw them as suddenly the group of illithid they had been watching just dropped dead.

The drow re-appeared swirling smokey shadow the only sign of their arrival. They moved forward, their progress slow, but still nonetheless intentioned. Missing even one Illithid would be disastrous.

Albus and Hadrian were positioned in the front of the group, Taurelilómëa, and Rath'gar in the back. Albus and Hadrian had made their way forward, cautiously, their magic extended only five feet outwards in fear of alerting anyone to their presence. Both crossed the boundary of the road that would take them around the side of the Tengkorak, eight of their accompanying men joining them until suddenly they felt wards spring up, solid ones.

Hadrian and Albus' eyes widened. These were not illithid wards, these were wizarding wards. Powerful ones. Anti-apparition, prison wards, and a myriad of others. Something was not trying to keep them out, but rather in.

It had also separated them from the rest of their force, Hadrian made a gesture for the ones not trapped with them to go around and keep moving forward without them. Their eyes protested, but they were too disciplined to argue here.

Turning back to look at the street, they noticed four figures step out of the shadows, Ulitharid all of them. Hadrian realized it first as his eyes recognized what they held in each of their pink-skinned hands, wands.

These were not just Ulitharid, they were once Humans. Wizards, he realized in horror. These were not the Ulitharid that they had fought in the Dhemdarum Surprise, these were something far older, and far more powerful.

'Albus they are wizards!' Hadrian urgently sent over their blood connection, he had no desire to let the Ulitharid in on their secret, or open his mind to the mindflayers.

/Welcome Wizards./ They spoke together. Albus and Hadrian felt something they had not felt in a long time, panic.

/It has been an age since we last met one of our Midgardian kin/ This time it seemed like their voices came from behind them.

/Please, won't you tell us everything we have missed?/ This time it came from the left side.

One of the eight soldiers that had made it into the street with them didn't hesitate, he fired an arrow right at the center Ulitharid's head.

The arrow changed as it flew, the newly transfigured crow landing on its master's outstretched hand. The Ulitharid had not even twitched. It was elegantly done, and immediately, Hadrian and Albus knew they were fighting at least one transfiguration master. But who knew how many masteries a being as old as the Ulitharid in front of them, who had been turned in the days where Midgardian's all had magic, in the days where the realms were not disconnected, had.

/Now, now./ The voice of the Ulitharid echoed, each of the five speaking synchronously.

/We wanted to talk to the wizards, not you insects./ Said the right one.

/We have had our fill of dwarves and drow./ The second one to the left continued.

/We yearn for the nectar of our motherland./ The two flanking what clearly appeared to be the leader hissed into their minds.

/You will not deny us./ The center one said with menace, brandishing a wand that looked more like a tiny spinal column than any wood they had ever seen.

With a simple jab, the rocks they were standing on exploded, twisting and turning into thorny tentacles, wrapping their way around their prey, the eight elite soldiers screaming as their sigils flared angrily as they tried their best to defend the soldiers from instant death.

As soon as the vines had caught hold of them though, the magic started to dissolve as Albus thrust his own magic forward. It had been a while since he had had to counterspell any transfiguration.

The eight elite soldiers fell to the floor, the dwarves standing up almost immediately, their magic resistance protecting them more than the elves from the burning energy the sigils had given off. They were all shaken.

With a gesture, Hadrian triggered their emergency portkey, they had little idea if it would work, but it was certain death for them if the eight elite remained here.

/I do believe your quarrel is with us./ Albus' telepathic voice cuts through the air swiftly. He had learned from the last time he had dared to engage a mindflayer in the mind arts, and the Illithid appeared suitably taken aback.

/It appears so./ All five spoke as one. Then, as was becoming common, all five bowed as one, wands held in front of their face, the traditional position for a Wizard's duel.

They struck a menacing pose, their inhuman faces, silky and flowing robes and bare feet reminding the older man of one of the last men that he had fought to the death, though Lord Voldemort was perhaps more predictable in his abilities than their current adversaries.

Hadrian and Albus both bowed, opening their connections as fully as it could go, and then they attacked.

Their movements were fluid, and neither bothered with a customary stunner. Albus immediately transfigured the air behind them into spikes that he sent hurtling towards them from behind. Even as Hadrian unleashed a torrent of lightning at their foe's faces. Five against two was hardly fair and neither of them thought for a second that this was to be a traditional duel.

The Illithid moved with a swiftness that belied their frail forms. The air itself becoming a shield, they had not however managed to defend on both planes as fast as they had needed to, the transfigured ground had risen up to block the iron spikes that had flown at their exposed backs a mere second too late, and one of the Illithid collapsed, an iron spike erupting from his squidlike head. Screaming telepathically even as the ancient Ulitharid died.

The four shrieked in outrage at the loss of one of their kin, their brother for who knows how long. Their rage was palpable, and suddenly it was Hadrian and Albus who found themselves on the defensive. The world bent around them, and then with a snap, reality fell away like pieces of a broken mirror.

The ground they were on was now floating in a void, swirling purple obscuring reality from them. It was both a true illusion and one that the Illithid had coupled with one in their minds.

'A legilimency trap.' Thought the pair of English wizards simultaneously.

The swirling purple smoke was disorienting, but even as his eyes and mind were fooled, his magic was not. Spinning, Albus wand drew a line through the air even as that same line appeared in front of one of the other illithid, bisecting it at the waist. The Illithid were masters of tricks and illusions, using them to ensnare the senses and trick the mind, but Illithids, powerful as they might be, were still driven by the need to know, the need to devour. This made them predictable.

The Illusion flickered as another one of the Ulitharid was slain by Albus. Hadrian's eyes narrowed, he was letting the old man do all of the work. Parrying four paralysis curses, Hadrian grinned. The Ulitharid would lose because they sought to capture, whereas Albus and he fought to kill.

Allowing one of the Paralysis curses to hit him, Hadrian counter cursed it, even as he pretended to freeze. The Illithid appeared out of the shadows, maw wide open as it went for the kill, only for Hadrian to blow its head off with a well-placed lightning bolt. These beasts weren't the only one who had a trick or two up their sleeves.

Again the illusion flickered. Hadrian had taken another one of the parasites out, Albus' fire whip lashed out, removing the wand arm of the ulitharid nearest to him, even as he wandlessly caught a blood-freezing curse heading towards him.

Holding the former wizard's spell in his hand, he brought it up to his mouth and whispered a spell he learned in his younger days of travel. At the same time, he used his wand to transfigure a wall between him and the other two Ulitharid. Banishing it towards them with another precise flick.

Eyes shining with smugness and power, Albus crushed his hand, small lines of what appeared to be pink light flitting from his hand even as the leftmost ulitharid collapsed, its own magic bound so long as Albus held his spell. This left the leader of the ex-human ulitharid alone with him and Hadrian, and it became more clear by the second that the ulitharid, while powerful and masterful in his transfiguration, was no match for their combined might.

It would seem a thousand years as an ulitharid was still not enough to measure up the two once in a century prodigies.

Still, both could admit, the final Ulitharid was an artist, as the parasite danced around their barrage of spells, transfiguring the illusion into reality so that as the last of his companions fell, the disorienting spinning continued. Blasting spells erupted from all sides, walls became dangerous knives, the very floor becoming a weapon of doom in the hands of the transfiguration master.

Hadrian launched a bolt of lightning at the ex-wizard, only to have it deflected into the street with a flourish, a black scorch the only evidence of the bolt's brilliant but short existence. The ulitharid's deflection came at a cost however, he was not fighting one wizard, but two, so it was Albus' disarming charm that caught him full in the chest, the ulitharid's wand landing on the ground with a clatter.

Immediately the Ulitharid's hands rose in surrender as his transfigurations failed. Albus and Hadrian hesitated.

/I Cesbelax, once Arthurias di Romano do surrender, you have defeated me, I am one of the last vestiges of an age gone by, surely you know that you have won. Allow me and my creed to depart, we will never be seen in these lands again, we want nothing but to study our magic in peace. It was foolish of us to engage you as we did, once fearsome, it seems our skills have atrophied to the point of shame. Please spare us./

/How do we know you won't curse us the very moment you are free?/ Albus inquired with a hard edge in his tone.

/I only wish for the freedom of me and my creed, and am willing to swear an oath on my magic to that affect./ The illithid's tone seemed genuine, but they were crafty buggers, Albus knew better than to take it at its word.

/Swear your loyalty, swear it on your name./

/I Cesbelax, once Arthurias di Romano, do swear for my creed, on my magic and name, that I mean my words, and will stay far away from this place to the slayer of Ilsensagron/

/I slayer of Ilsensagron do accept your oath./ Albus responds. The pulse of magic all that was needed to show them the oath had taken hold. The wards falling around them.

/Begone from here mindflayer./ Albus said, menacingly, his left hand releasing the magic of the other ulitharid.

Cesbelax bowed. /I will not forget the debt I owe you for your mercy./ The Ulitharid said, before grabbing the cloak of the other ulitharid and disappearing.

'Why did you let them go, Albus?' Hadrian thought, more than a little irritated.

'Do you know who that being was? Arthurias di Romano?' Albus asked over their connection, they were both rushing to catch up with the rest of their group.

'No.' Hadrian's cautious response told Albus he was genuinely listening.

'Arthurias di Romano is the man credited as the first transfiguration master.' Hadrian blinked.

'He seemed, how should I say this... weak.'

'I suspect it has more to do with the process of becoming an illithid than anything else. Transfiguration requires a firm identity, a firm concept of self, so that as you bend reality, you do not lose yourself. Being part of a collective, even as free as he as an ulitharid might have been, would have drastically reduced his ability.' Albus responded.

'Ah, that does make sense, but why spare him, you are not normally so prone to sentiment, Albus.' Hadrian didn't particularly care that the older man had, but he was curious at the reasoning.

'I am also not normally complicit in genocide.' Albus' voice, even across their connection, had a coldness to it. 'Make no mistake Hadrian, that is functionally what we are doing, no matter how foul the beings we are destroying, we are aiding a genocide. If for no other reason then he is a relic of a bygone time, I could not bring myself to needlessly kill a being that has seen more in his lifetime than I can dream of. It will be a sad day for us all when we don't think twice about the total destruction of any race, be it good or bad.'

Albus went quiet after that, it seemed all he had to say on the matter, and he had certainly given Hadrian a lot to think about. Albus, Hadrian had been reminded, was a good man. Yet, Hadrian couldn't stop the question that bubbled up inside of him: Could a good man survive in the world they were running around in?

Albus knew they were nearing Tengkorak because the number of Ulitharid who had begun trying to ambush them was increasing. Honestly, their tactic of killing them in the split second that they were spotted had proved barbarically effective. Albus was not sure he was completely comfortable with the sheer amount of knowledge they were removing from the universe.

Moving down a side street, Albus noticed that the houses were getting grander and grander. Since it was just the two of them, they had made much faster and quieter time moving through the upper city, able to avoid massive groups of illithid altogether.

Albus kept his magic extended at 20 feet, giving him enough time to react to nearly anything that came his way.

Albus' magic prickled, his precognitive abilities triggering as he bent backward in a display of athleticism he would have found impossible even a month ago. Next to him Hadrian did the same, though with even more grace—it seemed there were still some advantages to being young.

Ethereal tentacles erupted from the wall, smashing overhead in the position they had previously occupied.

Hadrian's eyes flickered with lightning, even as the younger man blocked the next four rapid strikes with a wall of pure magical might. Yet the wall did little to blunt the voice that would have shattered their minds before Gorzorth as it ripped through their consciousness.

/dO yOu ThiNk mE BliNd!/ It was unmistakably the elder brain.

/YoU daRE medDLe In OuR AffAirs? COme ThEN, NoNe ShAll stOp yOu, seE tHe meAningless oF rEsistance/ The leader of the illithid spoke with a hundred voices.

The Elder Brain's voice was layered, confident, regal, soothing, pleading, enraged, and scared. It was deep, thin, raspy, and smooth. It sent a shiver of fear down Hadrian and Albus' spines. It was unnatural, it was the sensation of a thousand ants crawling over you, of the feeling of eyes looking at you in the pitch black, it was the monster in the closet, it was the deep fear of what swam under you in black unknowable waters. It was all of these and more, multiplied a thousandfold

Even to people who had seen as much as Hadrian and Albus had, its simple presence in their mind, and the sensation that it carried instilled a deep unrootable fear—it was the fear of the Arcane. The unknown, the forgotten, the very fear that had driven the earliest of humans to make fire and banish the night, and with it the suspicion of what lay in the shadows.

Both men almost screamed as the deeply unnatural took hold of them. Their minds strained as the elder brain forced an image into their minds, Rath'gar and Taurelilómëa, suspended, surrounded by several red garbed cultists all of whom seemed hunched over. In it, a pale and royally garbed Ulitharid turned and stared right at them.

Albus and Hadrian felt horror dawn as they realized the Ulitharid were devouring the elite soldiers that had remained with Taurelilómëa and Rath'gar. As one the illithid lifted their heads, revealing the drooling faces of the soldiers. One of the Ulitharid, dressed far more regularly than the rest stepped forward,

"Surely you know that no mental protections can save your mind from a feasting Illithid. We know your plan, and we know your identity Albus and Hadrian of Midgard, wizards, nothing but conjurers of cheap tricks. I am waiting, take too long and I might just start snacking early." They both noticed that the Ulitharid in front of them had two rings around the tentacle-like appendages that hung like a beard from its' face. Suddenly, their minds were their own again.

'Have you been able to make contact with Lilómëa and Rath'gar? There is a chance this is a ruse, one that is meant to delay us, The ulitharid are masters of illusion.' Albus struggled to make a connection with Hadrian through the haze of the vision and felt Hadrian's agreement. Hadrian cast his magic outwards, tracking the huge number of spells that both Rath'gar and Taurelilómëa had on them.

Hadrian saw the blue glow hum around the two figures. It was them.

'It's not a lie,' Albus gritted his teeth, if the elder brain escaped it would be disastrous.

'We will need to be quick,' Albus sent to Hadrian

'Come now Albus, don't you know, there are few things faster than lightning.'

Albus took heart in his young protogee's bravado. 'Let's go then. Light the way, Hadrian.'

Hadrian and Albus encountered no resistance, the path seemingly cleared for the two as they hastily made their way towards the Tengkorak where their companions were strung up by the Ulitharid and their Illithid servants.

The two men stepped into the courtyard, immediately taking stock of the area. At least 30 ulitharid surrounded the courtyard.

Hadrian walked forward, steady in his stride, Albus by his side, and approached the raised dais which displayed his friend and the person who he was supposed to court.

Hardian locked eyes with Rath'gar, the goblin's eyes burned red. The swords were laying on a table a few feet away. Freeing him would be their first prerogative.

/Welcome, wizards, the Great-one has given me permission to do its will, and to that extent, I welcome you, you have been a far greater challenge than the Dwarves and the Drow for our people, never did we expect any would get this far, discover and attack our city, for that you would have been honored with the blessing of one of our tadpoles. You are worthy of joining us./ The head Ulithard droned on, Hadrian stepped forward causing the ulitharid to pause and turn towards him.

/Something to say, shu'ug?/

"I would know with whom I am speaking," Hadrian said quietly, too calm for the deadly situation.

/I am the Ulitharid Cephalossk, Creedmaster of the Venerators, one of the noble minds. High-priest to Ilsensine. You have committed a grave offence by coming here; the emerald-one will take great satisfaction in slowly breaking your minds,/ Cephalossk said, his voice echoing through the minds of everyone who was in the courtyard.

'We need to go and get them,' Hadrian said urgently, a very real worry for Taurelilómëa spreading throughout him—something that he didn't have time to think about in the moment.

Cephalossk's face-tentacles squirmed in what seemed to be enjoyment.

/You reek of fear, I do love a brain drunk on fear!/ Cephalossk was proving himself to be a sadist, not that either man expected any less from the direct servants of Ilsensine.

/Release them./ Albus' voice rang through the minds of all present, sending a ripple through those assembled.

/Ah the tadpole squeaks,/ Cephalossk sneered, a most peculiar look on its cephalopod-like face. /You are nothing but a blip in the vast consciousness that is Ilsensine! A blip that has brought him and his goals no small amount of irritation and strife, so now you shall watch me slay your companions and my brothers feast on their minds/ Cephalossk gestured, and two Ulitharid seemed to slink over to the two captives.

Hadrian and Albus locked eyes and moved forward, attempting to engage them. Both men were frozen in shock when they found themselves frozen in place, what appeared to be a paralysis runic trap they foolishly stepped on halting their movements for the ten or so seconds it would take the two to overpower the rune.

Two cloaked ulitharid moved towards their suspended companions, and, tentacles rippling, they went for the kill, both of their heads draping over the two a perverse and wriggling privacy screen.

Albus and Hadrian were only stuck in place, suspended, they were far from helpless. Silently taking the cue that Albus would handle their freedom, Hadrian took to his task.

Reaching out with his magic, he felt for all of the power he could control around him. The various protections layered on the bodies of the Dwarves and Drow that had followed them on this mission were still there, faded, but far from gone. The two hostages glowed like twin suns with the sheer number of magic he had performed on them.

With a flicker of concentration, Hadrian felt the mind shielding glyphs he had put on the two hostages before they had departed from their camp. Immediately, he felt them respond to his will. Though his body was still frozen, he waited till the faces of the Ulitharid were nearly upon his terrified and enraged companions, then he overcharged the sigil.

Both of the Ulitharid's heads exploded at the same time, and Albus had them free half a moment later. Without words shared between them they attacked.

In a second the anticipation filled silence was replaced by chaos. Albus and Hadrian released their full power. Sinking deep into their magic. Both attacked with a rage neither had expected to possess.

Like spears in the hands of an ancient hero, Albus' hands were nothing but streaks in the air, the only warning of death any of the Ulitharid that Albus targeted had.

Spinning his wand in his hand, Albus began a spell chain. Spell chains were something that 'good' wizards learned. But in the hands of Albus Dumbledore, this spell chain was destruction incarnate, first an explosion spell, the last movement of the charm the beginning of the mass animation spell that would animate the debris into shrapnel, the end of the animation spell the beginning of a slashing charm, into a severing charm, into a blood boiling charm, back into a linear incendiary spell, into an anti-air spell, into a heat spell which when hitting the space that had been removed of air, created a suction and then an explosion effect, so on and so forth, there was no reprieve.

Hadrian's whole body crackled with energy, tendrils of lightning crackling off him and striking enemies without any input from him. Simultaneously, his wand moved, cutting through the air like a whip. He was casting a locking spell on the area, there would be no escape for these feinds, no mercy was to be given here.

While his wand went through the motions of the spell, Hadrian wandlessly created a needle and banished it with half of his attention. The projectile sped across the room, pricking every illithid in its path before returning in a blur.

Scrunching his nose at his next action, his tongue darted out, gently licking the needle tip and swallowing. He felt a flicker as suddenly he had the identities of the eight ulitharid jammed into his head, a nasty side effect of the consumption of Illithid blood. Without warning, the eight litharid that Hadrian had pricked began screaming, their blood converting to a similar acid as that of his stomach, a rather cruel and normally useless feat of blood magic.

Hadrian's spell complete, he felt a thrum of satisfaction as he noted a new emotion flicking through the air, fear. Turning towards the abandoned captive, Hadrian's wand flashed and Eldingr cut through the ropes that bound them.

Rathgar wasted no time, leaping into the air, his hands grasping the gag that had been crammed into his mouth and ripping it off of him. He reached his hand out, eyes shining madly in the dim light, and from the belt of one of the Ulitharid flew the Red Dawn. The name given to the bloodmetal infused divine sword—a name driven into his mind by the weapon itself. He could tell that it was his, and that his sword had changed.

"Uk grat'ma gaar berserka'gh!" Rathgar's berserker cry flew from his snarling lips. The goblin leapt through the air, his hand meeting the hilt of his sword, the scabbard of binding that the ulitharid had placed it into getting sliced in half as the divine sword returned to its true master.

Coming out of his roll, Rathgar immediately sliced an unsuspecting Ulitharid in half, his sword glowing an angry red as the monster's tainted blood sanctified his blade. Spinning with a snarl, Rath'gar buried his sword to the hilt in the face of another Ulitharid, who in the chaos, had no warning before it joined the great consciousness.

Taurelilómëa for her part wove hex after hex, freezing the Ulitharid in place before they could block or defend from Hadrian or Rath'gar's attack. She was far from helpless, the group had been captured through the use of divine magic, something Cephalossk had proved able to wield.

It was a Divine sleeping spell that had knocked them all out, completely ignoring their defenses, because it wasn't magic or physical force, but something completely different, reality distortion. It reeked of meddling by Ilsensine, and Taurelilómëa was very unamused at the divinity's interference.

Spinning around, she impaled an Ulitharid with two shadowy legs that burst from behind the monstrous cultist, noting with satisfaction the abject terror the Ulitharid were feeling as the four companions regained the upper hand.

As the chaos unfolded, Albus was battling Cepholossk. His spells impacting the Ulitharid to no effect.

The venerable wizard flung a mix of spells at the surprised Ulitharid, but was more than a little confused at the sheer lack of damage it was doing to the priest of the tentacled one. The physical attacks bent out of the way, and the magical attacks proving useless.

/Fool, I am the Creedmaster, the favored of the Venerator Creed, your puny magics have no power when my lord is with me! How can I, first among Ulitharid fail against the likes of you, mortal? I am the bearers of the tendril rings of Ilsensine, you and your magic can have no effect on me!/

Albus switched to raw energy, glad that the enemy seemed to be willing to monologue away his advantages. Suddenly, Albus felt rather than saw Hadrian gathering a mass of magic, a mass of magic that he unleashed directly at the mouthy brainstealer. Hadrian's lightning bolt slammed into the surprised creedmaster driving him off his feet.

The hectic battle was slowing now as the Creedmaster stood, his form smoking and a wave of deadly anger apparent in his eyes, fully directed at Hadrian. The tendril rings glowed on his two tentacles like appendages. He seemed mostly unharmed.

/Do you know what these are wizards?/ The Ulitharid's voice seemed to gain a level of hostility that it somehow previously lacked. /These are a sign of my lord's grace upon me. The Tendril Rings of Ilsensine, vessels of his power, and his favor. Feel the power of the consumer of worlds, Ilsensine!/

The fanatacal glint in his eye only grew as he changed the two rings against each other. Then he did it again, a ripple of eldritch power began to grow from the creedmaster's cultist paraphernalia. Divine power began to suffuse the area, the few surviving ulitharids perking up even as Hadrian and Albus' eyes widened as they felt the strain on their mental protections.

Raw untamed madness was beginning to penetrate the clearing. Illithid and Ulitharid alike who had previously sulked in the shadows as their companions were being slaughtered, gathered now around the Creedmaster, driven by an unnatural fervour.

Hadrian and Albus did not hesitate. Spells of all kinds flew from their wands. The very environment bending to their frantic casting of two magical prodigies with one goal: seperate the Ulitharid from the Tendril Rings of Ilsensine.

Albus's transfigured blades warped into feathers as the spells entered the ever-expanding bubble of Illsensine's power. Hadrian's bolt of lightning turning into a simple blue-bell fire spell, the very laws of existence obedient only to the unquestionable will of Ilsensine.

Both wizards began backpedaling as fast as they were able, stumbling away from the ever-increasing diameter of the sphere of madness that had been summoned into Svartalfheim by the Creedmaster's use of the divine artifact.

With a frantic flick of his hands, Hadrian summoned their two companions to their sides.

'Hadrian! What is the plan?' Albus' voice showed the appropriate amount of concern as they were now meters away from being in Ilsensines sphere of influence.

'I don't know Albus.' Hadrian distractedly responded, running through hundreds of options in his mind. One after another being discarded.

"What are you planning?" Rath'gar's uncharacteristically scared voice broke them from their thoughts.

The dome was nearly ten feet from them, and still steadily expanding. If it touched them they were worse than dead.

Illlithid crawled from the shadows, hundreds of them, feeling the call of their god's soothing song. They looked at the orb of Ilsensine's power with transparent reverence, and then they charged forward eager to be with him.

'Albus?' Albus did not respond as he processed that he only had a few moments at most before the ever-expanding insidious green bubble of Ilsensine's power reached them from the front, and the equally deadly swarm of illithid reached them from all sides. So Albus took a page from Hadrian's book. He made a rash decision.

"Igne Solis!" The spell seemed to sputter, as Albus poured more power into it, and with an explosive tear, the tip of his wand ripped open, a ripple of rainbow color rippling out from his wand tip even as a laser-like beam of Sunfire sliced forward. The resulting shockwave blasted Hadrian, Rath'gar and Taurelilómëa's backward. Their many defenses all that saved them from blindness, deafness, and immolation as they were exposed to the Midgardian' sun's fire.

Albus was shocked. Never had this spell been so explosive, it was near uncontrollable. The pulsing angry beam not responding to his will as it had in the forbidden forest. He felt the drain on his magic continue even as he tried helplessly to stem the flow of magic. His magic, usually a mighty lake, was draining fast.

The tear in reality grew, and as it did, so did the torrent of fire pouring from the dimensional hole he had foolishly made.

His genius mind made the connection on where he had gone wrong quickly, but it was too late. The spell was made to bridge the earth and the sun. Svartalfheimr was not on Earth, not anymore. Albus thought he heard the faint screams of the illithid as the laser slammed into the bubble of Illsensines' power with the explosive force of a star.

The fire did not just vanish, however. In what Albus was sure surprised the God and the mindflayers alike, it continued onward, unimpeded by the reality controlling powers of the iillithid's God.

Albus was sure that any and all that were looking upon the courtyard would find themselves blinded as for the first time in several ages, sunlight shone forth in Svartalfheim. It was wrong.

Albus struggled to end the spell, his Hallows shrieking with horror at the suddenly uncontrollable nature of the spell. This was not like when he had used it on Midgard. There was no way for him to seal the rip he realized, the spell no longer obeyed him. No this was different, terrifying, it threatened to cut Svartalfheim in half, the sunfire burned so hot a single pin thick beam had nearly leveled a portion of the forbidden forest, this was a torrent. It was uncontrollable.

With a cry of pain, Albus tried to end the spell, but the damage was already done, nothing seemed to close the tear, in reality, he had summoned in his Hadrian-like foolishness.

As desperation clutched at Albus, a wave of cold crept up his body and had anyone been looking they would have seen Mondstral shimmer as an ethereal transparent cloak of purple covered it. Albus' hands shifted, moving on their own accord, as his wand and the resurrection stone glowing a fiery purple. With an effort that felt like it would put Atlas holding the world to shame, Albus swiped his hands to the side, sealing the rift, the torrent of star-fire ending immediately, cut from its source.

The sudden absence of the sun's scorching light, something neither Albus, Rath'gar, Hadrian had felt in far longer than they had realized was overwhelming. The light seemed paltry in comparison, the darkness, deeper. It was psychological, though none found solace in the knowledge.

As his eyes adjusted, Albus saw what remained of his enemy. Nothing but the charred feet remained of nearly a dozen elite Ulitharid. Ulitharid who did not make it into the safety of their tentacled lord. Many of the rest screeched, their faces and skin burned bare by the power of the sun's light. The shield protecting them barely hinting at its previous power, flickering dimly.

The buildings around them, had shadows, shadows of the illithid that had gathered when they felt the call of their god. Illithid that were now nothing more than scorched ash on the wall. Burned to but a shadow of a memory.

Cephalossk collapsed, tentacles erupting from the ground, pulling him down into the earth; a heavy price is needed to call on the tentacled-god apparently.

The Ulitharid fled and none felt the need to stop them. There would be no hiding their presence. Albus sagged.

"Albus," Hadrian's voice was grim, chiding, all of the things that in retrospect, he probably leveled at Hadrian after one of his stunts. "That was insane!" Albus blinked, shock plastered across his face at Hadrian's wide grin.

"I'm glad you are finally learning to take some risks," Hadrian smirked, patting the shocked man on his well-muscled back as he strode forward, the path to the Temple to Ilsensine clear.

A/N: Hello!

I would like to start by introducing you to a new beta that we have for the Arcanist. They volunteered, and have been amazing! Meet Byronic101, our second beta. Thanks to Inheritence1990 for being awesome as well! It is thanks to them that the story's quality will be getting better. At some point I am going to go back and polish the early chapters, while personally they turned out more or less the way that I wanted, there is a degree of dissatisfaction that I have noted among my dear reviewers, which I understand.

I am sorry this is several weeks late. I have decided on a one per month kind of chapter release. With bonus chapters for exceptionally prolific reviewing periods. Now, you all certainly deserve one, which is why you will be getting a double chapter in June. 14-15 were one long chapter, but honestly, after some personal things, and the fact that the world seems to be going nuts in a new way, I haven't had any time for writing. So I am truly sorry about the wait. I am not abandoning, I will see this through. Don't worry.

Congratulations to all of us, we are now at :
Reviews: 280
Views: 93,224
Favorites:890
Follows: 1,111

Unbelievable! Thank you so much for the support.

Just to kind of generally go through some thoughts I have about the reviews I am getting. I love them, "flames" and all, I have noticed that people don't like that the Potters have treated Hadrian so poorly. Here is the thing, and the only thing that I will say on the matter. The unspeakable magic's rules are different, why did Hadrian's power manifest as lightning? Did you think there would be no consequence when he made elvish magic his own? That it would not make him a bit of an anomaly, that there would be a cost for doing so that Hadrian was not even aware of? That the only adult to seemingly notice how brilliant Hadrian was, was Albus?

I like to pride myself on fairly well thought out plots... do the math yourself, there are lots of questions that need answering, and I will surely be answering them, but I am not just jumping on a I-hate-the-Potters-because-I-am-angry-with-my-childhood train. I had a nice one, this is purely storytelling.

Now onto another thing... Lilómëa. Yes that is what we will be calling her shorthand. Yes you will still see the long hand, No I don't expect you to know how to spell it. Here is the thing, I love how much you guys have responded to her and Rath'gar, to OC's of mine, that I just pulled out of my rear-end if I am honest. But they have grown to be my favorite NPC's... I hope in the coming chapters you guys will grow to know and love them as much as I am starting to.

Now some questions, because you guys seem to read these and respond favorably.

Do you like the Illithid/ depiction of the Ulitharid? They are pretty much taken directly from Forgotten Realms.

Have you seen the Baldur's Gate III trailer? It features them, pretty much exactly how I imagined said brain munchers too. Ceromorphisis is equally scary in the trailer too... check it out, I'd share a link but... FFN. nough said.

Do you think that the Ulitharid Wizards were fun?

How did you like Albus' battle with Arthurias di Romano? It was the first time we have seen a Wizarding duel in a while, what do you think Cesbelax will end up doing?

Also a side note: Ulitharid are capable of supporting a hivemind by themselves (see the Dhemdarum surprise), and one day becoming (if they want) an elder brain themselves. So no reason why sparing Arthurias di Romano/Cesbelax wont impact the future in big ways... it's not an independence day situation... blowing up the mothership won't kill all the aliens everywhere.

What do you think of Cephalossk? I was going to make an OC, but then thought why not connect this to a fanbase I have used rather liberally?

I would have loved more of a chance to delve into Illithid society, but honestly I couldn't warrant another chapter on it, then I got 12k words into this one and was like, hmmmph another it is... I originally thought that the entire Svartalheimr arc was going to be 2 chapters. lol. 70k+ words later...

Who is excited about the Elder Brain? Any predictions for what will happen?

Anyway thanks for reading! Expect to hear from me soon-ish.

-Mr. Omega573